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30 March 2015

After six intense years, I am thrilled to announce that the Wendell Castle Catalogue Raisonne is finally (almost) out. Please join me this Wednesday, April 1st, at the Friedman Benda gallery to celebrate the latest work of furniture revolutionary Wendell Castle and a sneak peak at the first 50 copies of the catalogue.

Words can't express what a monumental project this was - not the least because of the artist's zeal for experimentation and prodigious output of nearly 2000 unique works. At 82, Castle still goes to his studio daily and is arguably creating his best work ever. The artist has famously said, "The dog that stays on the porch doesn't get the bone" and indeed his choice to constantly challenge himself with new techniques, forms, and materials instead of playing it safe and reproducing an acclaimed chair or table is quite extraordinary and inspiring.

Castle seen stack-laminating, his pioneering technique which allowed him to sculpt gravity defying form.

The catalogue documents each work made by the artist since the 1950s and is presented in an elegant behemoth published (officially in June) by The Artist Book Foundation. (The publisher deserves a Nobel prize for fitting in so much information so attractively.) Traveling with me to Morocco, London, Paris, San Francisco, and of course Rochester over the past several years, this book is without doubt the most rigorous and demanding project I've ever worked on.

Please do come this Wednesday to fete Wendell, an American master, and raise a glass to the tremendous patience, hard-work, and eyesight devoted to this book by my incredible colleagues (Alice, Tricia, Marc, Leslie, Marisa, Carole, Miri, Kimberley, Hannah, Roy, and many many more). And if you have a Castle piece we might not know about despite our best Nancy Drew efforts, please email me at castlecatalogue at gmail dot com